CU Buffs

Host and No. 10 Stanford led from wire-to-wire, though had to hold off No. 8 TCU in the final round.  The Cardinal won with a 23-under par team score of 817, good for a six stroke win over the Horned Frogs (823); TCU shot the low round of the tournament Saturday with an 11-under 269, thanks to four players carding rounds in the 60s.  No. 22 St. Mary’s finished a distant third with an 839 total (1-under).

Colorado, ranked No. 58 by GolfStat and No. 71 by Golfweek, shot the sixth best score of the day, but was only able to move up from ninth to eighth as the middle of the pack was extremely contested.  CU’s 2-over 282 gave it a 13-over 853 overall, in the middle of a nine-team logjam that saw the fifth through 13th place teams be separated by only 12 shots.  The Buffs defeated three teams ranked ahead of them and six overall.

“It was a solid day, our best round of the tournament at 2-over,” head coach Roy Edwards said.  “To move up from where we were wasn’t bad; there were more teams closer to us from behind than were ahead.  And we got some good head to head wins.”

Unlike Friday, when the Buffaloes played the last three holes at 8-over par by the four players who scored, they reversed that in the final round, playing those at 2-under.

Sophomore David Oraee recorded CU’s best individual round of the tournament, posting a 3-under 67 to finish the meet at 1-over 211, tying him for 22nd place.  He rebounded from an opening 75 with two rounds in the 60s on the 6,727-yard, par-70 Stanford Golf Course layout.  Oraee played his last 30 holes at 4-under par, with an eagle and seven birdies over that span.  He tied for a team best 11 birdies overall.  It was his second best 54-hole score of the season, and he led the team for the third time, the first this spring.

“It was a really good round by David, he’s really coming into his own,” Edwards said.  “He played really good (Friday) as well, he could have shot a 64 or 65.  Today he played smart and confident and never put himself in bad position.  He was always in a good spot, and inevitably when that happens, you’ll shoot a good score.”

Senior Jason Burstyn and freshman Philip Juel-Berg turned in identical efforts for the entire tournament, as their 68-74-72—214 scorecards tied them for 34th.

Burstyn closed with two birdies, 12 pars and four bogeys for his 2-over 72, as he led the Buffs in pars for the meet with 35; he was also the only Buff not to record worse than a bogey.  Juel-Berg had a birdies and 14 pars against three bogeys en route to his 72, as he had the fewest holes over par (11) by a Buff to go with an eagle, nine birdies and 33 pars.

Senior Derek Fribbs tied for 44th, as he recorded a second straight 1-over 71; that gave him a 5-over 215 score overall.  He was steady and consistent in the final round, with two birdies, 13 pars and three bogeys, and was really consistent overall with 10 birdies and 30 pars overall, with 13 bogeys and just one double over the course of the meet.  He birdied his last hole (No. 9), which enabled the Buffs to defeat Pac-12 rival Oregon by one stroke in the end.

Redshirt freshman Drew Trujillo wrapped things up with a 5-over 75, giving him a 13-over 223 which tied him for 79th overall in the 96-man field.  He made things interesting Saturday, with a team-best five birdies, but only managed six pars (only two of which came in his first 10 holes); he had four bogeys and three doubles that sidetracked him from posting a subpar effort.  He tied Oraee for the team high with 11 birdies.

TCU’s Paul Barjon grabbed medalist honors, as his final round 67 gave him an 11-under par total of 199 for the tournament, good for a three shot win over Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers.

Colorado has one more tournament ahead of the Pac-12 Championships, which are a month away and will be played at the famed Los Angeles Country Club.  The Buffs’ final tune-up is set for April 8-9 in the Wyoming Cowboy Classic in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Edwards feels pretty good about his team’s season, particularly the spring, to date.

“We do feel really good about it,” Edwards said.  “We’ve definitely improved a lot over the course of the spring and the season as a whole.  I was really pleased with the effort and execution today.  We just keep getting better and it’s been really encouraging.  We’ll keep working at it and try to keep improving at everything we do.”

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